Black Sheep: When The American Dream Becomes A Black Man's Nightmare

From the grimy streets of the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans to the urban stockades of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, Toldson traces a young man's poignant and haunting journey from college life, to thug life, to eternal life.

From the grimy streets of the Upper 9th Ward in New Orleans, to the urban stockades of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, BlacK SheeP traces Duce's poignant and haunting journey from college-life, to thug-life, to eternal-life. Life was hard knock in the hood where Duce grew up in a rotting shotgun house with his mother and younger brother. He and his best friend, Jason, were both intellectually gifted teens who struggled together to find a place in society, while abiding in the mire of drugs and poverty in their community. Duce and Jason's tenacity however, set them on opposite pathways - Jason became the neighborhood "Dope Man," and Duce became a "College Boy." By the time Duce graduated from Southern University, it seemed he had it all - honorable grades, an attractive, high-society girlfriend, and a scholarship to attend grad school at Big State, a large flagship university in a rural midatlantic college town. But when he arrived at Big State, culture-shock knocked him off his high horse. Ultimately, his world crashed and he lost everything. When he returned home he couldn't escape the drug culture in his community. At the pith of his despair, he met a young black counselor named Coby in his court-ordered treatment program. Coby felt spiritually compelled to break Duce's defenses and uplift him through black empowerment. However, as Coby helped Duce overcome his demons, he began to unleash the ghosts in his own past. By fate, Duce, Jason and Coby were pieces of the same puzzle, posted on a platform of social injustice, government corruption and street life. The connection they had could be the insight they needed to make life make sense, or the dagger that would rip their souls apart.